First brew day calls for a first recipe! Thinking about craft beer inspiration and first loves, I immediately drift toward hops. Balanced, moderately bitter old school IPAs like Caged Alpha Monkey and Sierra Nevada Pale jump out. I prefer session-strength beers, and am interested in forming a round, formidable body with an approachable ABV. Here goes nothing ...
Eternal Evidence IPA
5 Gallon Batch
5.5% ABV
1.053 Original Gravity, 1.012 Final Gravity
35.5 IBUs
Malt Bill
8 pounds of Weyermann German Pale Ale Malt (3L)
1 pound Weyermann Munich Malt (20L)
1.5 pounds of Flaked Oats
Hop Schedule
Boil
.25 oz Chinook cryo at 60 minutes
.25 oz Cascade cryo at 10 minutes
Whirlpool
.5 oz Chinook cryo for 30 minutes at 185 degrees
.25 oz Cascade cryo for 30 minutes at 185 degrees
Dry Hop
.25 oz Chinook cryo mid-fermentation (2 days)
.5 oz Cascade cryo mid-fermentation (2 days)
Yeast
WLP001 - California Ale Yeast
Background
After reading Scott Janish's Survivables: Unpacking Hot-Side Hop Flavor it becomes apparent to me that my hop schedule needed work. Monoterpene alcohols (linalool and geraniol), thiols (3MH), and hop-derived esters (2MIB) drive hop flavor intensity. Chinook is rich in Methyl Geranate, but ranks behind 12 other varieties overall. Cascade is fourth from last on a list of about 40 hop varieties. Idaho 7, Centennial, Simcoe, Bravo, Loral, Citra, HBC 692, Eukanot, Mt. Hood, and Mosaic are some top performers.
Other key findings from Janish's report are listed here. Hop-derived esters are retained when added to a whirlpool. Monoterpene alcohols are amplified when the whirlpool is closer to 185 degrees. Hop-derived thiols work in conjunction with dry-hopping additions. The thiol 3MH gives a grapefruit-esque experience, developing efficiently in the boil, but 4MMP is retained under cooler conditions.
Dry hopping for 1-3 days is optimal to avoid astringency, over-carbonation, head loss, and hop creep. Cryo and lupomax hops do not rise pH levels, so that shouldn't be an issue. I'm matching the whirlpool and the dry hop rates to balance bittering and hop oils. Agitating the hops (once dry-hopped) will assist with extraction, but how would I do this in a corny keg?
Sierra Pale uses crystal/caramel malts, but I removed them as they are predisposed to inducing hop creep. Munich malt should impart sweet honey depth and bodily substance. The only loss will be in color; Caramel malts would tip the scales toward a darker/amber hue.
Creamy mouthfeel, subtle malty sweetness, grapefruit-piney-resin-dank hop punch in a crushable package is the ultimate goal.
Mash at 155 for 60 minutes
Raise mash to 170, hold for 5 minutes, recirculate
Run off wort, sparge with hot water around 170
Boil for 60 minutes
Cool to 68 degrees, aerate, pitch yeast
Dry hop
1.012 FG
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